Tea brewing and dispensing system and method

ABSTRACT

An automatically controllable commercial system for brewing a consistently high quality cold brewed beverage from a supply of purified water, optionally sweetening the brewed beverage, and dispensing the cold brewed beverage is provided. The system of the present invention includes automatically controllable integrated components for purifying the water supplied to brew the beverage and for maintaining the system in a sanitary condition that can be serviced on site or from a remote location. The present invention further provides an automated, commercial scale method for brewing tea from real tea leaves and naturally sweetening the tea to produce cold sweet tea with the high quality taste of homemade sweet tea.

The present invention claims priority from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/203,284, filed Dec. 19, 2008, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to automatic commercial brewingand dispensing systems for brewed beverages and specifically to animproved commercial brewing and dispensing system and method thatautomatically and safely produces a consistently reliable supply of highquality tea brewed from tea leaves and naturally sweetened to produce asweet tea beverage with a superior taste.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Tea is a beverage that has become increasingly popular with consumers inrecent years. It is viewed by many as a healthier beverage choice than asoft drink. After water, tea is the most popular beverage in the world.An estimated 85% of the tea imported into the United States in servedover ice. Consequently, fast food outlets and other kinds of restaurantshave increased their tea offerings to keep up with consumer demand. Icedtea and sweetened iced tea, especially in the South, are often requestedinstead of the ubiquitous carbonated sodas. Producing, on a commercialscale from real tea leaves, a high quality iced tea and sweetened icedtea that consistently tastes like it was brewed at home, but can bedispensed like soft drinks, presents challenges. Currently availablecommercial systems and methods for supplying iced tea have not produceda consistently high quality iced or sweetened iced tea beverage.

The prior art describes many variations on the brewing and dispensing oftea, iced and hot, as well as sweetened and unsweetened. U.S. Pat. No.7,067,168 to Podlucky et al, for example, describes an automated teabrewing system that can produce sweetened or unsweetened tea. Thissystem produces a tea concentrate that can then be sweetened with aliquid sweetener and diluted to generate very large quantities of teafor bottling. U.S. Pat. No. 6,981,441 to Dussinger and U.S. Pat. No.6,988,641 to Jones et al both describe iced tea brewing systems that usea tea concentrate. Dussinger brews the concentrate and adds chilledwater, while the Jones et al tea product is a post mix designed to havethe appearance of fresh brewed tea. None of these systems produces a teaproduct that has the taste of fresh brewed tea, however.

The maintenance of a commercial brewed beverage system in a sanitarycondition that avoids the growth of microorganisms is an additionalchallenge, especially when the brewed beverage system provides for theaddition of sweetener to the beverage. Preventing the growth ofpotentially harmful microorganisms in the components of a commercialbeverage brewing system is critical. Goerndt, in U.S. Pat. No.5,733,591, describes a method for automatically sweetening tea thatemploys a timed control circuit to produce a sweetened or unsweetenedtea beverage. A viscous corn sweetener is added to hot tea to form aconcentrate that is then diluted. Although Goerndt also describespurging the system lines as tea canisters are prepared, this is appearsto be done with tea or water, which is does not guarantee thoroughsanitization of this system. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,915,926, Naik disclosesautomatically cleaning a cold beverage dispensing system using hotwater. While this method may clean the premix powder and water systemdescribed by Naik, it is of limited value in disinfecting tea brewingsystem components that use fresh tea leaves or liquid sweetener.Cirigliano et al additionally recognize the need for sanitizing a teabrewing system to eliminate or substantially reduce microbial growth inU.S. Pat. No. 6,120,825. Their sanitization method also employs hotwater, however. The use of ozone to disinfect and sanitize a tea brewingand dispensing system that uses fresh tea leaves or a liquid sweetenerdoes not appear to have been contemplated by the prior art.

An additional challenge encountered in the production of an iced tea orsweetened iced tea beverage on a commercial scale that tastes good mayarise from the quality of the available water supply. The chlorine andchloramines used in the treatment of most local water supplies, forexample, can adversely affect the taste of brewed beverages and may givetea a bad taste. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,571, Levy recognizes thischallenge, and addresses it by adding anhydrous thiosulfates to tea andother beverages. This may eliminate the taste of chlorine or chloramine,but may also adversely affect the taste of the brewed tea.

Control systems for automatic beverage brewing systems are described inthe art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,031 to Warne, U.S. Pat. No. 6,571,685 toLassota, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,076,966 to Lassota et al, for example, alldescribe such control systems. The Warne system focuses on a controlsystem based on temperature detection parameters, the Lassota et alsystem discloses switches that interact with a manual control system,and Lassota employs a specific microprocessor to drain the disclosedsystem so that the tea can be contacted with atmospheric oxygen duringthe brewing cycle.

The prior art, therefore, fails to provide an automatically controllablesystem for brewing and dispensing cold unsweetened tea or sweetened teacharacterized by a consistently high quality superior taste on acommercial scale with the advantages of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a primary object of the present invention to overcome thedisadvantages of the prior art and to provide an improved commercialcold or iced beverage brewing and dispensing system useful in a range ofdifferent types of restaurants that automatically and consistentlyproduces a cold or iced beverage with a superior taste.

It is another object of the present invention to produce an improvedcommercial brewing and dispensing system that automatically brews teafrom tea leaves and adds a natural sweetener to produce sweet tea with asuperior taste.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fullyautomated commercial tea brewing and dispensing system and method thatconsistently produces a naturally sweetened cold tea with a taste thatapproximates the taste of home brewed sweet tea.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a fullyautomated commercial cold beverage brewing and dispensing systemincluding an integrated component for purifying the water used toprepare the brewed beverage.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a fullyautomated commercial cold beverage brewing and dispensing systemincluding an integrated component for automatically sanitizing thebrewing, sweetening, and dispensing components of the system.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide anautomatically controllable commercial cold beverage brewing anddispensing system that can be monitored and adjusted from a remotelocation.

In accordance with the aforesaid objects, an automatically controllablecommercial system for brewing a consistently high quality cold brewedbeverage from a supply of purified water, optionally sweetening thebrewed beverage, and dispensing the cold brewed beverage is provided.The system of the present invention includes automatically controllableintegrated components for purifying the water supplied to brew thebeverage and for maintaining the system in a sanitary condition that canbe serviced on site or from a remote location. The present inventionfurther provides an automated, commercial scale method for brewing teafrom real tea leaves and naturally sweetening the tea to produce coldsweet tea with the high quality taste of homemade sweet tea.

Further objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription, drawings, and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front perspective diagrammatic view of the cold beveragebrewing and dispensing system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front diagrammatic view of a preferred arrangement of thecomponents of the cold beverage brewing and dispensing system of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a back diagrammatic view of a preferred arrangement of thecomponents of the cold beverage brewing and dispensing system of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing operation of the components of the coldbeverage brewing and dispensing system of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Iced tea, particularly sweetened iced tea, has become more popular inrecent years and is increasingly requested by patrons in a wide range ofrestaurants in place of carbonated soft drinks. The vast majority offast food outlets and many other restaurants have met customer demandswith tea products required to be purchased with the carbonated softdrinks offered by their beverage supplier. These tea products aretypically produced as a concentrate from ground tea or tea sweepings,are flavored and sweetened with artificial flavorings and sweeteners,and are packaged to be dispensed with the carbonated beverages. Such teabeverages often have an “off” taste and, as a result, generate littlerepeat business. Some restaurants do brew their own tea, and the qualityvaries widely from batch to batch. Brewed tea has a short storage lifeand can deteriorate rapidly, which affects the quality of the taste.Many iced tea drinkers prefer presweetened iced tea, which presentsadditional challenges to restaurants that brew tea and add sweetener. Atambient temperatures, moreover, undesirable microbial growth thataffects the taste of the tea can occur.

The present invention is an improvement of the iced tea brewing anddispensing systems shown and described in Applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos.4,919,041 and 5,116,632, the disclosures of which are herebyincorporated herein by reference. The system and method shown anddescribed in the aforementioned patents produces a very high qualitypresweetened iced tea product that meets restaurant quantityrequirements, but its effective operation has proved to be quite laborintensive. This is a disadvantage when trained workers are hard to find.

The cold brewed beverage brewing, sweetening, and dispensing system ofthe present invention overcomes the problems described above andprovides an automatically controllable commercial scale system forbrewing tea from fresh tea leaves and purified water, sweetening thetea, dispensing cooled sweetened tea with a high quality superior taste,and maintaining the system in a condition that produces consistentlyhigh quality, superior taste tea. The control system of the presentinvention is designed to be monitored and actuated for optimummaintenance and service on site as well as from remote servicelocations.

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a front perspectivediagrammatic view of a preferred embodiment of the tea brewing anddispensing system of the present invention. The present tea brewing anddispensing system has been designed to have a compact, space-savingconfiguration so that it will fit through a standard 30 inch door. Thesystem components are mounted in a cabinet 10 that is preferably formedof a stainless steel material suitable for food service applications.The cabinet 10 is designed to allow access to the interior whennecessary for service or maintenance, yet limit access to designatedpersons. A series of access doors that can be outfitted withprogrammable locks or other like devices are provided. Access doors12,14 on the front of the cabinet 10 allow the components in theinterior front of the cabinet to be reached. Movable access panels 16,18, shown in FIG. 3, are designed to provide access to components in theback of the cabinet, and access doors 20, 22, and 24 on the uppersurface of the cabinet allow filling of tea leaf reservoirs 26, 28, and30. An exterior LCD type display panel 32 may be provided on one of theaccess doors 12, 14 or mounted in another convenient location on theexterior of the cabinet to provide information relating to the operationof the system, including, but not limited to the quantity of liquids inthe various reservoirs, the phase of the operating cycle, and othersystem parameters. The cabinet 10 can be adapted to be mounted oncasters (not shown) for portability or legs (34) in a permanentinstallation.

FIGS. 2 and 3 together illustrate diagrammatically the main componentsof the present tea brewing and dispensing system. Tea leaf reservoirs26, 28, and 30 are mounted within the cabinet 10 under their respectiveaccess doors 20, 22, and 24. Stainless steel beverage cans in a 3 gallonsize may be conveniently modified to form the tea leaf reservoirs 26,28, and 30. One modification is the inclusion of a signal actuated dooror the like (not shown), preferably in the base of each tea leafreservoir, that can be programmed to release a predetermined amount ofloose tea leaves into an infuser brew basket 36 when the brew basket ispositioned beneath a tea leaf reservoir as will be described below. Theinfuser brew basket 36 is designed to be mounted on a track 38 so thatthe basket is movable into any one of five different positions andinvertable to dispose of used tea leaves. Basket 36 is shown in itsinverted position in the drawings. In positions one, two, and three, thebasket 36 is aligned with one of the tea leaf reservoirs to receive aquantity of fresh tea leaves. In position 4, the basket 36 is alignedwith an automatic tea brewing apparatus 40. The positioning andalignment of the basket 36 under the tea brewing apparatus includes aswitch or like activator (not shown) programmed to activate the teabrewer 40 to turn the brewer on to start the tea brewing cycle and thento turn off the tea brewer at the end of the tea brewing cycle.

The automatic tea brewer 40 is preferably the type of automatic teabrewer that can be programmed to brew a desired quantity of tea within aselected time period. There are many available automatic tea brewersthat have this capability. A preferred brewing type of tea brewer willbrew about 5 gallons of tea in 15 minutes when activated by the infuserbrew basket 36.

The brewed tea is collected in a tea receptor 42. The tea receptor isconfigured similarly to a 5 gallon beverage can of the type used in foodservice applications. The tea receptor includes an inlet valve 44 influid communication and aligned with the infuser brew basket 36 and thetea brewing apparatus 40. The inlet valve 44 is programmed to open whenthe tea brewing apparatus is activated to begin the tea brewing cycle bythe positioning of the brew basket 36. At the end of the tea brewingcycle, the tea receptor inlet valve 44 is activated, causing it toclose. An actuating signal is concurrently sent to an inlet port (notshown) located on the tea receiver, causing it to open to receivedcompressed air from a pump 46 fluidically connected to the inlet port,thereby propelling tea through an outlet port (not shown) located in thetea receptor 42.

The tea is moved through the outlet port by the compressed air to athree way valve 47 that is selectively activated to direct pressurizedtea through an appropriate fluid line 48 to a selected one of threepressurized tea reservoirs 50 located in a section 52 of the cabinet 10that is refrigerated. One of a battery of circulating pumps and motors54 is fluidically connected to a designated tea reservoir 50 to directthe brewed tea from that reservoir through a chiller coil (not shown) ina continuous circuit that includes a fluid connection with aconventional tea dispenser (not shown) of the type used by the foodservice industry to dispense chilled beverages and with a drain valve(not shown). Two other of the battery of circulating pumps and motors 54are fluidically connected with each of the other two tea reservoirs 50and circulate pressurized brewed tea from these tea reservoirs in asimilar manner. If desired, the system can be set up to brew anddispense only one kind of tea or to brew and dispense three differentkinds of tea, one kind of tea at a time. This would enable therestaurant to have available, for example, black tea, green tea, andherbal tea for its customers.

When the automatic tea brewer 40 has completed the brewing cycle, theinfuser brew basket 36 is moved to a fifth position above a drain basin56, where the basket containing wet tea leaves is activated to cause itto invert over the drain basin, thereby dumping the used tea leaves intothe drain basin 56. A conventional spray device mounted with the drainbasin is further activated to rinse the basket 36, which is preferablythen air dried until activated to begin a new brew cycle. The track 38on which the infuser brew basket 36 is mounted may be configured in anyone of a number of ways known to those skilled in this art. One type oftrack suitable for this purpose resembles a bicycle chain mounted onsprockets.

A liquid sweetener, preferably one based on cane sugar as described inApplicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,919,041 and 5,116,632, is premixed andplaced in sweetener reservoirs 58 in the refrigerator section 52 of thecabinet 10. The sweetener reservoirs 58 are fluidically connected to adedicated sweetener pump in the battery of pumps and motors 54, whichcontinuously circulates sweetener in a continuous circuit that includesa chiller coil so that the sweetener is maintained in a chilledcondition. The chiller fluid circuit is fluidically connected with thedispenser (not shown) that dispenses the chilled brewed tea. Whensweetened tea is to be dispensed, both a selected tea circuit and thesweetener circuit are activated simultaneously to dispense both cold teaand cold sweetener concurrently. If unsweetened tea is desired, only aselected tea circuit is activated to dispense cold unsweetened tea.

Although the entire fluid circuit is not shown in detail in thedrawings, the components of the tea brewing and dispensing system of thepresent invention are in fluid communication as described and includefluid lines and connections as needed to circulate and dispense thetreated water, brewed tea, and sweetener required to produce a superiorbrewed tea product. The fluid lines contemplated for use in the presentinvention are of the type conventionally used in food serviceapplications, such as, for example, hoses made of flexible syntheticmaterials.

Other components mounted in the cabinet 10 that are part of theautomatic tea brewing and dispensing system of the present inventioninclude a water storage tank 60 for storing water that has been purifiedto produce brewed tea with a high quality taste. A space 62 to house acondenser (not shown) for the refrigerated section 52 is also located inthe cabinet 10. In addition, an air treatment system 72 is preferablyincluded in the cabinet 10 to filter, dry and compress ambient air foruse in the tea, sweetener, and sanitizing circuits. A climate controlcomponent 41 (FIG. 2) should also be installed in the cabinet 10 toprotect the electronic components from overheating. The foregoingcomponents are available commercially.

FIG. 3 illustrates additional components of the tea brewing anddispensing system of the present invention. The consistently superiortasting tea produced by this system results in large part from thetreatment and purification of the water used to make the tea andsweetener. Water enters the cabinet through fluid lines (not shown)connected to a supply of water. Typically the water will come from amunicipal water supply. Water entering the cabinet first flows throughan automatic sediment filter 64 to remove any solids and then through anultraviolet disinfectant system 66 to eliminate some of the contaminantsthat could be present in the water. A reverse osmosis type of waterpurification system 68, preferably one capable of purifying 800 gallonsper day, treats the water further before it is directed to the automatictea brewer.

Additional water used by the tea brewing and dispensing system of thepresent invention is treated by an ozonator 70 that makes ozonated waterfrom ambient air and water. Ozonated water is a very powerfuldisinfectant that is significantly more effective than chlorine and hasbeen approved for food contact by the Food and Drug Administration(FDA). Ozonated water has been demonstrated to effectively eliminatebacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella, as well as other bacteria andviruses. To produce commercially effective amounts of ozonated water,ozone must be produced on site. The present invention is designed togenerate sufficient ozone to accomplish this result. The ozonated waterproduced in conjunction with the tea brewing and dispensing system ofthe present invention can be used to sanitize the system as describedbelow and will also be available in sufficient quantity for such otheruses as sanitizing hands and rinsing food.

The operation of the tea brewing and dispensing system of the presentinvention is designed to be substantially completely automatic. FIG. 4illustrates one possible automated embodiment of the present invention.Once an installer or operator has set the parameters of the system, itcan be fully automated. When a brewing and dispensing system has beeninstalled, a restaurant then selects the time of day it wishes to beginserving brewed iced tea and the time of day it wants the system set tostand by. Sanitization of the system requires a two hour time period.For example, if the system is set for sanitizing at 2:00 AM, and startup is set for 4:00 AM, the LCD display panel 32 on the cabinet willdisplay Stand By, Start Up, Ready, and Sanitizing. The LCD will alsodisplay the amount of product in the tea leaf reservoirs 26, 28, and 30and sweetener reservoirs 58. When the system starts to operate, the LCDwill change from Stand By to Start Up, indicating that the system isturned on. A signal from a system processor activates the infuser brewbasket 36 to revert to an upright position and moves basket 36 alongtrack 38 to a first position in communication with tea leaf reservoir26. Tea leaf reservoir 26 is activated to release a predeterminedquantity of tea leaves sufficient to make 5 gallons of brewed tea, andthe basket 36 is activated to move to a second position in communicationwith the automatic tea brewer 40. This initiates the brew cycle andsignals the tea receiver inlet valve 44 to open so that the tea receivercan collect the brewed tea. At the end of the 15 minute brewing cycle,the inlet valve 44 closes, and system signals activate the componentsrequired to move the brewed tea from the tea receiver to a tea reservoir50 in the refrigerator part of the cabinet.

When the system is in Ready mode, sensors are activated to detect teareservoir levels. If the levels are lower than a selected minimumvolume, the basket 36 is signaled to begin a new brew cycle.

At a preset time, the LCD will change from Ready to Sanitize, and alltea reservoirs and fluid circuits will be automatically emptied.Ozonated water will be directed to the tea receiver 42; from there theozonated water will be pressurized and circulated through all of the teacircuits. The drain valve (not shown) is activated to open and close asneeded.

The operation of the tea brewing and dispensing system of the presentinvention has been described with respect to activators, actuators,signals, and processors. Most of these electronic components are knownin the art. The present tea brewing system is intended to be capable ofautomatic operation, and employs suitable arrangements of theseelectronic components to achieve the automatic brewing of both sweetenedand unsweetened tea and the sanitizing of the components of the system.It is contemplated that wireless technology will be employed inconjunction with electronic processors and microprocessors to enablecontrol of the present system from a remote location as well as at thesite where the system is installed.

Although the tea brewing and dispensing system of the present inventionhas been described with respect to preferred embodiments, structures andcomponents that are functionally equivalent to those described hereinare intended to fall within the scope of the present invention.

Industrial Applicability

The tea brewing and dispensing system of the present invention will beused primarily in the food service industry, such as in fast foodoutlets and other restaurants. The present tea brewing and dispensingsystem will also find use in other venues where the commercial scaleproduction of a consistently high quality brewed sweetened orunsweetened tea is desired, including educational institutions,hospitals, and other similar users of commercial food service equipment.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system for controllably and automaticallyproducing on a commercial scale a high quality cold tea beverage thatcan be dispensed in a sweetened or in an unsweetened condition,comprising, substantially completely contained within a controlledaccess cabinet means: a. a tea brewing system component configured toautomatically and controllably brew a high quality tea beverage directlyfrom a controlled supply of fresh tea leaves and purified water and tohold and maintain the high quality tea beverage in a cold conditionuntil dispensed, and comprising a plurality of tea leaf reservoirscomprising containers, wherein a first end of each said container isdesigned to register with a corresponding access means in said cabinetmeans to receive a supply of fresh tea leaves and a second, opposed endof each said container is configured to dispense automatically aselected quantity of fresh tea leaves; and a brew basket mounted to beautomatically movable from a position to receive an automaticallydispensed selected quantity of fresh tea leaves from a second end of atea leaf reservoir to a position aligned with an automatic tea brewingmeans to brew automatically said high quality tea beverage with waterfrom said water purification system component and then to an invertedposition wherein used tea leaves are dumped after brewing b. a sweetenersystem component fluidically integral with said tea brewing system andconfigured to hold and maintain a supply of a liquid sweetenercomprising naturally occurring sweeteners in a cold condition; c. awater purification system component and a sanitizing system component,each said component being fluidically integral with said tea brewingsystem component and said sweetener system component, wherein said waterpurification system component comprises filter means, disinfectingmeans, and reverse osmosis purification means designed to provide asupply of purified water to said tea brewing system component to brewsaid high quality tea beverage, and wherein said sanitizing systemcomponent comprises ozone generation means to produce ozonated waterfrom said purified water and means for automatically directing ozonatedwater through said tea brewing system component and said sweetenersystem component to sanitize said tea brewing system component and saidsweetener system component when said system is not automatically andcontrollably producing or dispensing said high quality cold teabeverage; and d. a programmable system controller designed to beprogrammed to automatically control and operate said system componentswhereby said high quality cold tea beverage is consistently produced ona commercial scale.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein said tea brewingsystem component comprises: a. a tea receptor fluidically connected tosaid automatic tea brewing means to receive and temporarily hold thebrewed high quality tea beverage; and b. one or more tea reservoirsfluidically connected to said tea receptor and to a source ofpressurized gas whereby the brewed high quality tea beverage is movedfrom the tea receptor to a tea reservoir, wherein said one or more teareservoirs and said supply of sweetener are positioned within a chillerportion of said cabinet means to maintain said brewed tea and saidsweetener in a cold condition at an optimum temperature.
 3. The systemof claim 1, further comprising dispenser means located outside saidcabinet means and fluidically connected to said tea brewing systemcomponent and said sweetener system component configured to selectivelydeliver automatically a desired quantity of cold brewed high qualitycold tea beverage from said tea brewing system component or apredetermined quantity of cold sweetener from said sweetener systemcomponent concurrently with a desired quantity of said brewed highquality tea beverage.
 4. The system of claim 3, further comprising fluidconnection and actuation means for fluidically and controllablyconnecting said tea brewing system component, said water purificationsystem component, said sweetener system component, said sanitizingsystem component, and said dispenser means to automatically move loosetea leaves, brew tea with purified water, dispense cold brewed tea,dispense cold brewed tea and sweetener, and move ozonated water throughsaid system.
 5. The system of claim 4, further comprising actuation andcontrol means programmable to activate and control activation of saidtea brewing system component, said sweetener system component, saidwater purification system component, and said sanitizing systemcomponent to consistently produce a high quality cold unsweetened orsweetened tea beverage.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein saidcontrolled access cabinet, means is configured to mount and hold incompact functional arrangement at least said tea brewing systemcomponent, said sweetener system component, said water purificationsystem component, said sanitizing system component, said fluidconnection and actuation means, and said actuation and control means. 7.The system of claim 2, further comprising a track supporting andautomatically controlling movement of said brew basket from engagementin a receive position with a selected tea leaf reservoir to receiveloose tea leaves to a brew position in alignment with said automatic teabrewing means to provide said loose tea leaves for use in brewing saidhigh quality tea beverage, wherein said track is automaticallyactuatable to move the brew basket from said receive position to saidbrew position to said inverted position to dump the tea leaves aftersaid high quality tea beverage has been brewed, and then back to areceive position.
 8. The system of claim 1, further comprising drainmeans located within said cabinet means to receive used tea leaves,brewed tea, sweetener, or water to be discarded and ozonated water usedto sanitize said system.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein said waterpurification system components means filter means comprises an automaticsediment filter and said disinfecting means comprises an ultravioletdisinfectant system.
 10. The system described in claim 2, wherein thebrew basket comprises a water permeable receptacle configured toactivatably engage said tea leaf reservoir to dispense a predeterminedquantity of loose tea leaves and then to activatably engage saidautomatic tea brewing means after the loose tea leaves have beendispensed into the receptacle.
 11. The system described in claim 2,wherein said tea receptor includes actuatable valve means programmableto open or close in response to the position of said brew basket influid contact with said automatic tea brewing means.
 12. The systemdescribed in claim 11, wherein said tea receptor further comprisesselectively actuatable three way valve means for providing a separatefluid connection with each of three tea reservoirs, wherein saidactuatable three way valve means may be actuated to direct high qualitybrewed tea to a selected tea reservoir.
 13. The system described inclaim 4, further including system pressurizing means for moving purifiedor ozonated water, brewed iced tea, and sweetener through said system.14. The system described in claim 1, wherein said sanitizing systemcomponent is configured to direct said ozonated water through the systemin response to a programmable timed signal.
 15. The system described inclaim 5, wherein said controlled access cabinet means includes displaypanel means connected to said actuation and control means forcommunicating information relating to the operation and status of thebrewing and dispensing system.
 16. The system described in claim 3,wherein said dispenser means includes a fluid connection with a selectedtea reservoir and a fluid connection with said sweetener systemcomponent, and said dispenser is programmable and actuatable to activateone or both of said fluid connections to selectively dispense eitherunsweetened tea or sweetened tea.
 17. The system described in claim 2,wherein said system further comprises drain means for directing used tealeaves, tea, sweetener, and sanitizing fluids out of the system.
 18. Thesystem described in claim 2, wherein said plurality of tea leafreservoirs comprises three separate containers and each of saidcontainers holds a different variety of tea.